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January 29 - February 29, 2012
January 29, 2012
Iran (h/t to thereligionofpeace)
Ms. Leila Mohammadi, a Christian convert who resided east of Tehran, was sentenced to two years of imprisonment after enduring 5 months of uncertainty in notorious Evin prison.
January 30, 2012
Saudi Arabia
Thirty-five Ethiopian Christians, 29 of them women, face deportation from Saudi Arabia for "illicit mingling" after police raided a private prayer gathering, Human Rights Watch said on Monday. The New York-based watchdog said the women were subjected to "unwarranted strip search," while the men were beaten and insulted as "unbelievers".
The group was arrested on December 15 in a private home in Jeddah as they gathered to pray ahead of Christmas in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom which bans the practice of any religious rites except those of Islam. More HERE.
Mid-East Arab Spring Update (hat tip to JihadWatch)
Pakistan
A judge has denied bail to a young Christian man charged with desecrating the Quran under Pakistan's controversial blasphemy laws despite the lack of evidence against him, sources said.
Cameroon (h/t to thereligionofoeace)
Christian converts in northern Cameroon are coming under intensifying pressure following a warning from militant Muslims to return to Islam or "face Allah's wrath".
January 31, 2012
Macedonia
An Orthodox Christian church famed for its valuable icons was set alight in southern Macedonia overnight amid religious tension between Christians and minority Muslims over a carnival in which Orthodox Christian men dressed as women in burkas and mocked the Koran. More HERE.
Firefighters extinguished the fire on Monday night in the two century-old Sveti Nikola church, near the town of Struga. The church's roof was destroyed but its icons were not damaged, the fire service said. And HERE.
Denmark
An Iranian apostate from Islam who became a Christian is harassed out of his Muslim neighborhood in Vollsmose, Denmark.
Egypt (h/t to JihadWatch)
Last fall, the Egyptian Coptic Church's lawyer Naguib Gibrael estimated that some 100,000 Christian families had left the country in the preceding months, and that since Mubarak's ouster, sectarian strife has escalated in the country.
February 1, 2012
Uganda
A [Muslim]group that claims to have executed the grisly attack on Pastor Umah Mulinde with acid on Christmas Eve seeks to broaden its evil mission and has now revealed that it is targeting more people it accuses of being bent on ostracizing Islam in their performances and sermons. They pinpoint drama groups and radio evangelists, particularly comedy group Amarula Family, Bakayimbira Dramactors, presenters on Christian radio Impact FM, other born-again leaders and non-Muslims in general.
Iran
A pastor of a major house church movement in Iran has begun serving a five years prison sentence, for "crimes against the order", while a colleague has been detained amid drug addicts.
Pastor Behnam Irani began his five year imprisonment in the Ghezel Hesar detention center in the city of Karaj on trumped up charges, said Jason DeMars, director of advocacy group Present Truth Ministries, who assists him. "His 'crimes' were being a pastor and possessing Christian materials," he explained. "In the recent past we received reports that he was being beaten by fellow prisoners with the approval of prison authorities."
February 3, 2012
Indonesia (h/t to JihadWatch)
A group of 37 Indonesian Christians to be deported from the United States despite voicing fears of religious persecution at home are scheduled to return on Feb. 29. That group will be joined by 58 more in November.
Sudan (h/t to JihadWatch)
Sudan's military bombed a Bible school built by a U.S. Christian aid group, prompting students and teachers at the school to run for their lives in the Nuba Mountains.
Bosnia
From JihadWatch: Radio Vatikan on Bosnia and the ethic cleansing of Catholics.
February 5, 2012
Turkey (h/t to InfidelsAreCool)
An ex-Muslim boy is beaten at his school for wearing a cross.
February 6, 2012
Islamic Countries
Ayaan Hirsi Ali writes about the global war on Christians in Islamic countries.
February 7, 2012
Islamic Countries
A video from MSNBC about violence against Christians in Islamic countries.
Iran (h/t to thereligionofpeace)
Ms. Fatemeh Nouri, an art student in one of the universities in Tehran was sentenced to one year of deprivation of education by the Revolutionary Court for believing in Christianity. Ms. Nouri is a Christian convert who was arrested by security authorities on September 2011 at her residence in east Tehran and then transferred to Evin prison.
February 8, 2012
Somalia
Islamic extremists from the rebel al Shabaab militia in Somalia beheaded a Christian on the outskirts of Mogadishu last month, sources said. The militants fighting the transitional government in Mogadishu murdered Zakaria Hussein Omar, 26, on Jan. 2 in Cee-carfiid village, about 15 kilometers outside of the Somali capital, they said. Omar had worked for a Christian humanitarian organization that al Shabaab banned last year.
Pakistan (h/t to thereligionofeace)
Haroon Arif, a student from DG Khan in Punjab, could not get high enough marks to get into medical school. This is a standard situation for many young people in the country. What's different here is that Haroon, who missed the grade by less than 0.1%, would have earned 20 extra marks if he was Hafiz-e-Quran. He tried to claim his knowledge of the Bible was equivalent, but this made no impact.
February 9, 2012
Around the World
A comprehensive Pew Forum study last year found that Christians are persecuted in 131 countries containing 70 percent of the world's population, out of 197 countries in the world (if Palestine, Taiwan, South Sudan, and the Vatican are included). Best estimates are that about 200 million Christians are in communities where they are persecuted.
The ratings of offending countries always put North Korea as the worst, followed by Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, the Maldives, Yemen, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Laos, Pakistan, Sudan, and, farther back but still prominently odious, Libya, Syria, Oman, Egypt, Kuwait, the Palestinian Authority, Vietnam, Cuba, and China. While there is no shortage of incidents in India, where there is serious religious friction between Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs as well, most offending countries are Islamic or Communist.
Egypt
Last week a series of meetings were held by radical Muslims to decide on the fate of the Copts in a village in Alexandria, and Muslims insisted that the whole Coptic population of 62 families must be deported because of an unsubstantiated accusation levied against one Coptic man. Update HERE.
Nigeria (h/t to Persecution.org)
Nigerians have fled in droves to neighbouring Cameroon to escape violence claimed by the Islamist Boko Haram group and revenge attacks by Christians. "Everybody is insecure in Nigeria. The fear is all-pervading," said a Nigerian Christian priest, speaking on condition of anonymity, in Fotokol, a Cameroonian border town where dozens have taken shelter in the last few weeks.
February 10, 2012
Around the World
Muslim Persecution of Christians in January 2012. The beginning of the New Year saw only an increase in the oppression of Christians under Islam, from Nigeria, where an all-out jihad has been declared in an effort to eradicate the Muslim north of all Christians, to Europe, where Muslim converts to Christianity are still hounded and attacked as apostates.
According to the Chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, "The flight of Christians out of the region is unprecedented and it's increasing year by year"; in our life time alone, he predicts "Christians might disappear altogether from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Egypt."
Iran
Iranian authorities this week arrested Christian converts from Islam while they were meeting for worship at a home in the southern city of Shiraz, according to sources. The sources put the number of the arrested Christians, who belong to one of Iran's many underground house churches, at between six and 10. More HERE.
February 12, 2012
Nigeria (h/t to thereligionofpeace)
A Mitsubishi bus with six Christian passengers fleeing the carnage in Maiduguri took the chance of refuelling at Potiskum. Hardly had the attendant started the pump than some men on motorbikes, armed with AK 47, pulled in. They shot dead the travellers, including a woman and a baby.
February 14, 2012
Algeria (h/t to JihadWatch)
Armed men raided a church in Ouargla, Algeria on Wednesday tearing down the gate to the church's compound and damaging the iron crucifix on the church's roof.
Aidan Clay, ICC Regional Manager for the Middle East, said, "Whether under the harsh laws imposed on Christians by the government or at the hands of angry mobs, Christians and their places of worship continue to be discriminated against or outright attacked in Algeria. We urge officials in the Ouargla province of Algeria to conduct an immediate investigation and arrest those responsible."
Turkey
Despite some promising developments, Christians in Turkey continue to suffer attacks from private citizens, discrimination by lower-level government officials and vilification in both school textbooks and news media, according to a study by a Protestant group. In its annual "Report on Human Rights Violations," released in January, the country's Association of Protestant Churches notes mixed indicators of improvement but states that there is a "root of intolerance" in Turkish society toward adherents of non-Islamic faiths.
February 15, 2012
Egypt
A mob of nearly 20,000 radical Muslims, mainly Salafis, attempted this evening to break into and torch the Church of St. Mary and St. Abram in the village of Meet Bashar,in Zagazig, Sharqia province. They were demanding the death of Reverend Guirgis Gameel, pastor of the church, who has been unable to leave his home since yesterday.
Nearly 100 terrorized Copts sought refuge inside the church, while Muslim rioters were pelting the church with stones in an effort to break into the church, assault the Copts and torch the building. A home of a Copt living near the church and the home of the church's porter were torched, as well as three cars.
Sudan
Two Catholic priests abducted at gunpoint in Rabak, Sudan last month have been released amid a wave of forcible conscriptions into rebel southern militias.
February 18, 2012
Pakistan (h/t to AtlasShrugs)
Nadia Bibi, a Christian girl who was abducted and forced to marry a Muslim man, returned to her family, of Catholic faith, after 10 years. Nadia was only 15 when, in 2001, she was kidnapped in Mariamabad (in Punjab), a city with a Catholic majority: her case is not an isolated case, as confirmed by Catholic sources of Fides in Punjab, there are at least 700 cases a year of Christian girls kidnapped and forced to marry a Muslim.
February 19, 2012
Jerusalem (h/t to Janet Levy)
A mob of some 50 Palestinian Muslims stoned a group of Christian tourists atop Jerusalem's Temple Mount on Sunday morning. Three of the Israeli police officers who acted to protect the Christian group were wounded by the stone-throwers. Police arrested 11 Palestinians, several of them minors, for their role in the attack. The attack is believed to have been instigated by the former Muslim mufti of Jerusalem, Ekrama Sabri.
Kuwait (h/t to JihadWatch)
A Kuwaiti parliamentarian is set to submit a draft law banning the construction of churches and non-Islamic places of worship in the Gulf state, it was reported at the weekend.
Nigeria (h/t to JihadWatch)
A bomb planted by an abandoned car exploded outside a church in the middle of a worship service Sunday near Nigeria's capital, wounding five people amid a continuing wave of violence by a radical Islamist sect, authorities and witnesses said.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast outside the Christ Embassy church in Suleja, a city near the nation's capital Abuja. However, the area has been targeted in the past by the sect known as Boko Haram - including the Christmas Day car bombing of a Catholic church nearby that killed at least 44 people. More HERE.
February 22, 2012
Iran
A trial court in Iran has issued its final verdict, ordering a Christian pastor to be put to death for leaving Islam and converting to Christianity, according to sources close to the pastor and his legal team.
Supporters fear Youcef Nadarkhani, a 34-year-old father of two who was arrested over two years ago on charges of apostasy, may now be executed at any time without prior warning, as death sentences in Iran may be carried out immediately or dragged out for years.
Syria
"Christians are the minority most threatened by Syria's civil war and are trying to flee the country. They feel defenceless against the escalation of violence that has raged in the country for months. Pray for peace and the reconciliation of the Syrian people!" Mgr Antoine Audo, Caldean archbishop of Aleppo, told AsiaNews.
February 23, 2012
Pakistan
Saira Khokhar, who teaches at the City Foundation School in Lahore, is accused of burning a copy of the Qur'an. However, the case is still shrouded in mystery. Police took Ms Khokhar into custody and launched an informal investigation. No First Information Report has been filed yet, but Christian activists and organisation along with the special adviser to the prime minister on minority affairs, Paul Bhatti, are closely monitoring developments to ensure her safety and rights.
Pakistan
A dozen armed Muslims stormed the Grace Ministry Church in Faisalabad, seriously wounding two Christians. Sajid Masih was hit by bullets and is in critical condition in hospital, the man risks having his amputated arm. Another member of the Protestant community, Boota Masih, was pushed from the roof - a height of about six meters - after being struck repeatedly with a rifle butt.
February 24, 2012
Pakistan
A rich Muslim landowner abducted a Christian man in Faisalabad for failure to repay a debt he had contracted and not repaid whilst working for him. Sources close to the Christian man's family said the latter left the job tired of being exploited and abused for a pittance. Only the intervention of the National Commission for Justice and Peace of the Catholic Church of Pakistan led to the man's release and a peaceful resolution of the issue.
Egypt
Coptic Christians in Egypt fear for their future under an Islamist government.
February 26, 2012
Nigeria (h/t to Persecution.org)
Fear and anxiety gripped churchgoers in Nigeria on Sunday after four people were killed in the latest church attack. Police said a car packed with explosives rammed into the compound of the Cocin (Church of Christ) headquarters in Jos. Some church members emerged from the scene covered in dust.
Syria
For the first time in the history of the conflict in Syria, an armed attack has been made on a Catholic monastery, reported Vatican Radio on Saturday. About 30 armed men wearing masks attacked the monastery, founded by Jesuit from Italy Paolo dell'Olio. Attackers demanded money and weapons. According to the abbot, no one was killed or wounded.
February 27, 2012
Pakistan
Tensions are still high in a village near here following Muslims' attempt to seize land from a Christian family by threatening to accuse them of "blasphemy." What began on Feb. 19 as a quarrel over a pigeon between Christian and Muslim youths at Nawa Pind Sabu Mohal village, in Sialkot's Pasroor area in northeast Punjab Province, grew into an occasion to jail some Christians in the overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim country, the Christians said.
February 28, 2012
Uganda
While a Ugandan pastor was fighting to retain sight in his remaining eye after an acid attack, Muslim extremists this month were shooting at his close friend, a leader of another church.
Doctors at Sheba Hospital in Tel-Aviv, Israel, are still not sure what kind of chemicals Muslim extremists cast on Bishop Umar Mulinde of Gospel Life Church International outside of Kampala last Christmas Eve, but they know that the acid is threatening the vision in his remaining eye.
February 29, 2012
Egypt (h/t to JihadWatch)
A number of Egypt Coptic Christian protesters organized a demonstration on Tuesday in front of Parliament to protest what they called "the disappearance and abduction of Coptic girls," where the families of the missing girls took part in the protest organized by the Association of Victims of Abduction and Enforced Disappearance. The protesters chanted "Where is the rule of law" and "no for the Islamization of minors","MPS, where are the rights of Copts?"
Bangladesh (h/t to JihadWatch)
Three American missionaries were injured in northern Bangladesh on Wednesday after their car was attacked by a mob who suspected they were converting Muslims into Christians, police said.
Pakistan (h/t to thereligionofpeace)
Gunmen abducted two Pakistani Christians working for a South Korean-run hospital in Karachi on Wednesday, police said.
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Publisher: Bill Warner; Edited by Asma Marwan
Permalink
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.)
The Senate voted on Thursday 51 to 48 to reject a controversial
amendment sponsored by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) that would have
overridden the Obama Administration's new contraception coverage rule
and allowed any employer to refuse to cover any kind of health care
service by citing "moral reasons." Three Democrats, Sens. Bob Casey
(Pa.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Ben Nelson (Neb.) voted with
Republicans in favor of the amendment, and only one Republican, Sen.
Olympia Snowe (Maine), voted against it.
Although Obama's contraception mandate includes a broad exemption for
churches and faith-based employers, Senate Republicans argued on
Thursday that requiring any employer, even a non-religious one, to
cover health services that they oppose is an attack on religious
freedom.
"This is just the beginning," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
(R-Ky.) said on the Senate floor before the vote. "If the government
is allowed to tell people to buy health care, it won't stop there. I
wonder what's next? This isn't about one particular religion -- it's
about the right of any American to live out their faith without the
government picking and choosing which doctrines they're allowed to
follow."
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), one of the few Senate Republicans who
identifies as pro-choice, reluctantly voted in favor of the measure,
even though she admitted that it was "flawed." She said she was
dissatisfied with the administration's response to her question about
self-insured religious organizations, which may still be required to
cover contraception for employees under the new rule.
"I feel I have to vote for the Blunt amendment with the hope that its
scope will be further narrowed and refined as the legislative process
proceeds," she said. "I do this with a lot of conflict, because I
think the amendment does have its flaws, but when the administration
cannot even assure me that self-insured faith-based organizations'
religious freedom is protected, I feel I have no choice."
Opponents of the bill pointed out that the amendment not only would
have allowed employers to cherry-pick women's health care options
based on moral beliefs, but it also would have rolled back some of the
basic anti-discrimination protections in the Affordable Care Act. For
instance, under the amendment, an employer could refuse to cover
things like HIV/AIDS screenings, prenatal care for single mothers,
mammograms, vaccinations for children and even screenings for diabetes
based on objections to a perceived immoral lifestyle.
While Republicans have been trying to frame the issue as being purely
about religious freedom and not about women's health, female lawmakers
and Democrats have argued that the amendment is the latest front in
the so-called war on women.
"Women and families across America can breathe a sigh of relief that
this radical amendment was blocked by Senate Democrats today," said
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) after the vote. "It was absolutely
appalling that Republicans forced us to spend days and days dealing
with contraception and women's health, but I am hopeful that we can
now get back to work on legislation to create jobs and invest in
communities across America."
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
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Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
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By Associated Press, Published: February 29
PHOENIX — A federal judge blocked police in Arizona from enforcing a
section of the state's 2010 immigration enforcement law that
prohibited people from blocking traffic when they seek or offer day
labor services on streets.
U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton ruled Wednesday that groups seeking
to overturn the law will likely prevail in their claim that the day
labor rules violate the First Amendment. She rejected arguments by the
state that the rules were needed for traffic safety and pointed out
that the law, also known as SB1070, says its purpose is to make
attrition through enforcement the immigration policy of state and
local government agencies.
"This purposes clause applies to all sections of SB1070, and nowhere
does it state that a purpose of the statutes and statutory revisions
is to enhance traffic safety," the judge wrote.
The ban was among a handful of provisions in the law that were allowed
to take effect after a July 2010 decision by Bolton halted enforcement
of other, more controversial elements of the law. The previously
blocked portions include a requirement that police, while enforcing
other laws, question people's immigration status if officers suspect
they are in the country illegally.
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear Gov. Jan Brewer's appeal of
Bolton's decision to put the most contentious elements of the law on
hold. Another appeals court has already upheld Bolton's July 2010
ruling.
Three of the seven challenges to the Arizona law remain alive. No
trial date has been scheduled in the three cases.
Some of Arizona's biggest law enforcement agencies have said in the
past that they haven't made any arrests under the sections of the law
that were allowed to take effect.
Brewer said in a statement that she was disappointed with Bolton's
"erroneous decision," which she said has further eroded the state's
ability to regulate public safety. Also, Wednesday's ruling is just
one more reason to look forward to the Supreme Court's scheduled
consideration of SB1070 in April, she said.
The governor signed the measure into law in the spring of 2010.
Dan Pochoda, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of
Arizona, one of the group's representing people who filed the lawsuit,
said the judge saw through the government's ruse that the day labor
rules were about traffic safety, when the goal all along was to get at
day laborers.
"There are clear laws now that allow any cop to unclog (the streets)
well before they had this law," Pochoda said.
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and other
opponents had asked the judge for a preliminary injunction to block
enforcement of the day labor rules, arguing they unconstitutionally
restrict the free speech rights of people who want to express their
need for work.
Brewer's lawyers had opposed attempts to halt enforcement of the day
labor restrictions. They argued the restrictions are meant to confront
safety concerns, distractions to drivers, harassment to passers-by,
trespassing and damage to property.
Brewer's lawyers have said day laborers congregate on roadsides in
large groups, flagging down vehicles and often swarming those that
stop. They also said day laborers in Phoenix and its suburbs of
Chandler, Mesa and Fountain Hills leave behind water bottles, food
wrappers and other trash.
The judge wrote in her latest ruling Wednesday that the law appears to
target particular speech rather than a broader traffic problem. "The
adoption of a content-based ban on speech indicates that the
Legislature did not draft these provisions after careful evaluation of
the burden on free speech," the judge wrote.
Bolton previously denied an earlier request to block the day labor
rules, but opponents were allowed to bring it up again after the 9th
Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on a similar issue in September.
The appeals court had suspended a law from Redondo Beach, Calif., that
banned day laborers from standing on public sidewalks while soliciting
work from motorists. The court ruled the law violated workers' free
speech rights and was so broad that it was illegal for children to
shout "car wash" to passing drivers.
The ruling Wednesday still leaves other elements of the law in place,
such as minor tweaks to the state's 2005 immigrant smuggling law and
2007 law prohibiting employers from knowingly hiring illegal
immigrants.
Other parts of the law that remain in effect include a prohibition on
state and local government agencies from restricting the enforcement
of federal immigration law and a ban on state and local agencies from
restricting the sharing of information on people's immigration status
for determining eligibility of a public benefit.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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